iPhone

iPad

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The Dev-Team blog posted a warning advising unlockers not to install iOS 4.1, amid a flurry of reports indicating that the update will be available starting later today. Apple's UK site had posted a notice over the weekend - since changed to read "Coming soon" - that 4.1 would be "available on 8 September," and the Spanish site had a similar announcement. Regardless of the specific date, though, the Dev-Team is advising in the strongest terms against an upgrade. “Today you’ll likely start seeing iTunes innocently offer you a new version of iOS…version 4.1," the Dev-Team Blog says. Under a video clip from Return of the Jedi, the post warns "Don’t accept it…it’s a trap!”

The team's warning is particularly directed at new iOS device owners, who may not have any experience with the jailbreak cat-and-mouse game. "Not everybody knows that accepting new iOS updates is the surest way to lose your jailbreak and/or unlock,” as the post says. In particular, the expected baseband update will break carrier unlocks: "while those of you who have Cydia or TinyUmbrella backups of your FW hashes will always be able to get back to 4.0.1 if you make this mistake, this doesn’t hold for unlockers… there’s currently no known way to revert your baseband — if you update your baseband you’ll lose the ultrasn0w unlock, possible [sic] forever.” However, due to a flaw in very early bootloaders, “a tiny number of iPhone 3G owners” will be able to revert their basebands… and you know who you are.

After the 4.0.2 update was released, the Dev-team posted an announcement that they wouldn't work on a jailbreak for tactical reasons, explaining that "if the cat & mouse game escalates too quickly, especially during beta FW periods, nobody but Apple benefits." As is usually the case, though, some users are anxious to have a jailbreak as soon as the new firmware is available. One user sent @comex a tweet asking about a "next week userland jailbreak," to which the Dev-Team hacker replied "there's no such thing." In reply to another tweet, @comex said "next jb might not come from me." This touched off a huge amount of commentary on blogs, leading @cdevwill to suggest with some exasperation that users "stop… speculating about the next jailbreak and just wait." Then, @p0sixninja shot back a sarcastic tweet saying "what do you mean? We all know the next JB will be from h0tb33fdev," which started another whole round of "CONFIRMED!" posts. To calm people down, @p0sixninja later had to explain that "h0tb33fdev is a fake fake group to make fun of all the other fake groups out there."

So, we're passing on the advice to just hang on and wait patiently (and not spam the Dev-Team members with tweets asking when the jailbreak will be available; we'll know as soon as it is) and, of course, making sure your SHSH blobs are backed up. Users are already reporting a slowdown on Cydia as 4.1 approaches.